3 year old and screen time

[LadyBaddington]

My 3 year old doesn't watch very much TV- she goes to pre school during the day and we tend to be out and about on weekends. She sometimes will watch something after pre school and has started showing an interest in Disney films recently.

The trouble is I find if I let her watch a bit then she gets SO upset when it's time to turn it off. My friend who has no screen time rules for her kids (it's always on!) Say they aren't fussed when it's time for it to go off so I'm wondering if it's a mistake to try and have limits in the first place?

She is always perfectly happy, then it goes on and she watches a bit and is then miserable and whingey for ages after. She also displays angry behaviours like gritting her teeth and stomping.

I just cba and feel like not being it on at all but is that OTT? Anyone else found this?

You are where you are so no point worrying about what you could have done different. TV is part of their lives, I think teaching them to moderate it is what is important. Our daughter is 3 and like yours watched very little in the week as she is at pre school full time. Maybe 10 mins on the occasional evening while I finish tea. On a weekend she watches 45 mins ish after lunch - half a film or a couple of programmes. She's generally very good about us turning off as we stick to the routine fairly consistently. The odd hissy fit occurs but I ignore it and it goes off anyway. She gets over it within 5 mins or so and some distraction.

In your situation I'd persevere with allowing some of it so she learns it goes on/off at mummy/daddy's decision and only for limited times. I'm sure the tantrums will settle soon. Once you've said it's going off always stick to your guns!

At that age I had very defined boundaries so expectations were managed. Rather than saying, 'let's put the TV on' I would say, 'let's watch an episode of X'. When it finished, the TV went off.
We weren't watching movies at age 3 but when we were (school age) we only ever watched the whole film when we'd set aside a movie afternoon.
Turning a film off when it's not finished is asking for upset, especially at age 3 when they have a poor concept of time and expectations.

We don't have any issues turning a film off part way through. I don't think it's a bad thing for them to learn that sometimes things go off when an adult says so.